Labour’s last chance

It’s not only the last chance for Theresa May. It could also be the last chance for British Labour in Scotland (BLiS). In his blog today, Eric Joyce points out that,

“Even if the result [of Brexit negotiations] is manifestly disastrous in every way for Scots, Labour will still oppose a second referendum!”

By putting off the vote on a new independence referendum until tomorrow (Tuesday 28 March) the First Minister has graciously allowed Kezia Dugdale’s troops time to reflect on the senselessness of this position.

As I have noted previously (https://goo.gl/U8bvM7), BLiS and the Tories have quite distinct perspectives on the constitutional question. For the Tories, it is a matter of principle. Or, at least, of dogma. Their devotion to the concept of the British state is ideological. For them, the mythologised pseudo-nation of ‘Britain’ is real. The structures of power, privilege and patronage which define the British state constitute the apparatus by which their vision of ‘Britain’ is maintained. The Tories are the true One Nation British nationalists.

For British Labour, those structures of power, privilege and patronage are important, not so much as the scaffolding which props up an imagined Britain, but as the framework which serves their party. It is the system that affords British Labour status, and at least the tantalising possibility of power. They are concerned, not for notions of One Nation Britain so much as for the preservation of a political environment that they regard as necessary for their very existence.

BLiS’s fanatical opposition to a new referendum, like their fervent hatred of the SNP, is driven by fear of change. Change which threatens, not only their relevance as a political force, but their viability as a political entity.

On the one hand, we have devotion to an increasingly narrow, isolationist, nativist, xenophobic concept of ‘Britain’. On the other, we have partisan self-interest at it rawest and crudest. Nowhere in either calculation will you find any place for Scotland or its people.

There is no point in hoping for anything better from the Tories. But, by postponing the vote in the Scottish Parliament until tomorrow (Tuesday 28 March), Nicola Sturgeon has allowed BLiS MSPs time to ponder the political, logical and moral vacuity of the position taken by their leader. They have until then to decide whether their loyalties lie with party or people.

Views: 3524

Many thanks to everyone who has been kind enough to make a donation.
Your generosity is quite extraordinary, and very much appreciated.
All monies received are used in furtherance of the campaign
to restore Scotland’s rightful constitutional status.Please use the button below or click here.

7 thoughts on “Labour’s last chance”

Party, Party, Party – all the way. There is no hope for these cretins. The Labour Party, like the Empire (Remnants) Ltd. must be completely demolished. Only then can a new Scottish Labour Party and a new Scotland be built from the rubble.

I think you already know the answer to that question Peter.
They have little or nothing to offer Scotland beyond the lies of redistribution of wealth,courtesy of the offices of the British state and their insistence that Scotland can only exist through the benevolence of the English establishment.
They embody the cringe culture which has been fostered in Scotland by HM press and friends.

The Labour Party in Scotland can still do a fair bit of damage. First off, they give cover to the Tories by ostensibly sharing their unionism, and they are willing to enter into de facto electoral pacts with them. Secondly, BBC Scotland is a nest of Labour supporters, such as Sarah Smith, and this is reflected in their news “slant”. Even though Scottish politics is, in reality, bipolar, in that there are only two options, independence or subservience, the BBC pretends that it is impartial by giving equal weight to all the parties (with the convenient exception of the Greens, who they still unfairly treat as a fringe party). This means that interviews and panels are weighted by party affiliation, with a 3 to 1 bias against the SNP.

I take your point about the different motivations for the Red Tory/Blue Tory unionism, but the end result is the same. Both are content for Scotland to endure Westminster Tory rule for as long as the English vote for it. Labour so hate the SNP that they are willing to line up with Ruth Harrison’s No Surrender Party. It seems to me that anyone with any brains or any decency has already left Labour, so I don’t see them making an intelligent or honourable decision for Scotland.

Scottish Labour is a suit we bought many years ago. We’ve just grown out of it. Kezia eejit Dugdale needs to come to terms with this and bugger off. There just has to be Labour MSPs who see the light and know they’re backing a donkey so it’s time they grew a pair and came forward to support Scotref.

We can’t expect a change in BBC Scotland, they are bound to support the Union, it is their core function with any notion of impartiality rooted firmly in la la land. They need to be publicly challenged and so far the indy movement lacks the capability to do this on the required scale.

Preaching to the converted on Indy sites certainly won’t make any difference.

i don’t think there is any credibility left with the SLAB gang. At this stage how can anyone take a’ volte face’ on the constitution by their MSPs as anything but a continuation of the barefaced opportunism they have displayed for generations?

They blatantly sold the jerseys at IndyREF1…nauseatingly celebrating arm in arm with their supposedly avowed mortal enemies, the Tories, while the Scottish working class were cast down into Neoliberal hell by their despicable traitorous actions.

Hell mend them…let them sink or swim like the drowning rats that they are. We can form a new party of socialist integrity after Independence. One populated and led by those untainted by their treachery.

The ‘careerists’ in Labour – and this applies equally to the Tories and LibDems – had better take heed to the fact that in an independent Scotland, their parties will be outlawed. Now this isn’t the prediction of a pogrom by a vengeful SNP, just simply the fact that no country in the world will allow parties in their legislature that are funded by a foreign nation.
All three parties are subsidised by their alter egos in Westminster. This funding will have to stop and the parties will have to be reformed as solely Scottish entities. Will they survive this upheaval? Crossing the floor now might be advisable before all vacancies are filled!